What's happening to large cities

[Neil]

"Music and art do not require an urban environment"

Never said it did, only said that urban environments are where art and music thrive, and urban environments attract and nurture probably 90-95% of the artists, and a significant proportion of the musicians, particularly if you include jazz and rock and roll, the two most influential idioms of the 20th century. But some would argue that only riots and looting occur in cities.

[chuck]

It’s possible you need to limit how many rats you have in the cage. America’s cities are crumbling. From the foundation to the roof.

New York City, particularly Manhattan, Brooklyn and the western part of Queens are not crumbling. Neither is the west shore of the Hudson between the GW bridge and Bayonne (where Newark Bay links to the Upper Hudson Bay). These areas are booming in terms of residential and commercial development.

The media makes money (all media) by magnifying the bad and downplaying the good. There is no story and little or no advertising sales without conflict. You puff it up until it looks like the apocalypse. Even the weather reports have become purveyors of doom and gloom.

Here is a Rick Mercer rant on weather reporting, from Toronto.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EQdXyKiFY4

[robert.]

I think only five president failed to get the majority of popular votes

[HONDO74]

10 Most Notorious Housing Projects In Queens (New York)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1r4r7A ... e=emb_logo

https://unitedgangs.com/2017/09/27/the- ... -new-york/

[Rufus T. Firefly]

only said that urban environments are where art and music thrive....

I'm not even sure that's quite true vs. art & music elsewhere per capita.

and urban environments attract and nurture probably 90-95% of the artists

attract....maybe. Nuture......all those starving artists....my daughter was leaning towards such a life until I suggested that she look into the economics of survival in such an environment....she's a Phd psychologist now.

and a significant proportion of the musicians, particularly if you include jazz and rock and roll, the two most influential idioms of the 20th century.

Ummm....maybe....blues might be the underlying basis for both and while some blues are urban, quite a bit is not like Delta blues. Again, not anchored in any single environment at the end of the day. One of my fav US R&R prog bands came out of Weirton, WV....

But some would argue that only riots and looting occur in cities.

You can file under the prior comment about idiots being everywhere and their continued rampant breeding

[HONDO74]

But some would argue that only riots and looting occur in cities.

You can file under the prior comment about idiots being everywhere and their continued rampant breeding

So where else are these riots and looting taking place ?????

[E7]

I think only five president failed to get the majority of popular votes

Robert, We can sort of bring that one right back home. The last PA gubernatorial election was decided (pretty much won) by the combined votes of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, which voted Democratic while 60+ of the 67 counties voted Republican. Wolfe got the popular vote, but if the vote had been decided by an EC style one vote per county, he would have been hammered.

Rich

[chuck]

Queens County, NY. Size, 109 sq. miles (land). Population, 2.25 million. 780,000 households, median family income $62,459, median household income $55,291. Queens is one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the US and the most linguistically diverse place on earth.

Yeah, it's a real h*ll hole.

[Neil]

"t if the vote had been decided by an EC style one vote per county, he would have been hammered."

When did democracy devolve into one piece of land, one vote? I thought it was one man, one vote . My county doesn't exist as a human entity. It's a purely arbitrary, usually gerrymandered by one party or other based upon nothing to do with democratic intent.

[HONDO74]

Speaking of H'll holes.

New York sinkhole: Man's horror over fall into rat-infested chasm
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-54747625

Big rat on New York City subway scares passengers
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-26963256

New York steps up its war on rats after increase in numbers
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-34612323

Coronavirus: More rats 'in affluent areas' during lockdown
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-53435210

[rogruth]

Admittedly it has been a long time but I recall sections of the constitution that determined the make-up of congress and how the president would
be elected, I think it would take a constitutional convention to change that and quite a number of years. At a true constitutional convention our
present one could be thrown out and could start from new. Some would probably like that.
Also the U.S. is a Democratic Republic, not a democracy. That is where every vote is not equal comes in.
A simple majority does not always win.

[Neil]

Cities don't have as many rabid bats, raccoons and foxes as rural areas. And farms smell worse than cities. A matter of opinion of course. And try to get some Thai or Indian food in rural areas. Different strokes for different folks.

[Neil]

But there is something amiss in the system when the majority always loses despite large margins of victory in the popular vote. And the tyranny of the minority has replaced the problem of the tyranny of the majority. The constitution counted slaves as population to favor the South despite the fact that they were not citizens nor did they have any rights. Originalism my *** . If someone thinks they can figure out what men dead 200 years were thinking, I have a bridge to sell them for a very good price that connects Brooklyn to Manhattan.

[HONDO74]

I have a bridge to sell them for a very good price that connects Brooklyn to Manhattan.

Are you now selling something that doesn't belong to you.... We have laws about that in this country that were written 200 years ago..

[Neil]

A figure of speech and metaphor, not covered in the Constitution, My Life by Rush Limbaugh or Ayn Rand's famous book "The Idiots Guide to Extreme Selfishness" .

Maybe by the time the Republicans are through with our country we'll be deporting people to New South Wales for stealing bread for their starving children. That was the law 200 years ago in England. Come to think of it, Australia's conservative government has done a much better job of controlling weapons and the pandemic than the clowns we have in charge.